Slow cooker appliances have been broadly used in households since at least the 1970's and are commonly used for a variety of purposes. Slow cookers are convenient ways to cook a wide variety of foods including, but not limited to, soups, stews, dips, chilis, roasts, and other large cuts of meat at a lower temperature for extended periods of time. One benefit of slow cookers is that a user may add all the ingredients for a meal, namely, the meat, starches, vegetables, and so forth, together into one appliance and it will “slow cook” during the day and be ready for consumption at dinner time. Many slow cookers only have a “cooking” setting and an “off” setting. Some slow cookers may include a “warm” setting however the “warm” setting often may only be activated after a pre-determined cooking cycle has been completed.
Often times, slow cookers are used at potluck dinners, family reunions, smaller restaurants/bars, parties or other applications for holding and serving food items for an extended period of time. In this situation, the slow cooker is often transported from the cooking location to the serving location. Further, these events often require the food to be made available for serving for prolonged periods of time. Once the desired food product has finished cooking in the slow cooker, it is desirable to keep the food product at a comfortable consuming temperature in the slow cooker, rather than at the “cooking” temperature. Unfortunately, as stated above, since most slow cookers only have a “cooking” setting and an “off” setting, keeping the food product at a comfortable consuming temperature is oftentimes problematic. Thus, to prevent the served food product in the slow cooker from (1) being too hot to eat, (2) burning or over cooking, or (3) drying out the contents due to boiling off of the liquid or moisture associated with the food product, most users often serve the food product with the slow cooker turned off. This situation presents other undesirable issues including not being able to control the serving temperature of the food product in the slow cooker.
Leaving a food product unheated for a prolonged period of time presents obvious risks. First, if food is left unheated too long, it may become too cold and will not be at an ideal consuming temperature. Second, if the temperature of the food product gets too low, bacteria may reappear and/or start to grow. Thus, to prevent the served food product from getting too cold so as to be unappetizing, or worse, harmful to the consumer, it is desirable to monitor the temperature of the contents of the food in the slow cooker. There is therefore a need for a slow cooker which provides users with some indication of the actual temperature of the food product inside the cooking vessel so that a user can selectively re-heat the food product, if necessary, to keep the food product at an optimal serving temperature. There is also a need for a slow cooker that incorporates a heat sensor and/or thermometer combined with a visual/graphic indicator which will allow a user to monitor the temperature of the food product inside the cooking vessel after cooking and while the food product is being served.